And it has the backing of the Amazon-owned audiobook company of the same name, Audible.com.

John Harrobin, Audible.com's senior vice president of marketing, said his staff came across the horse's growing popularity while monitoring the audiobook company's search engine optimization, known as SEO, or where it stands in results on sites like Google.

“We came across Audible the horse stories in our news feed because we track all things Audible,” Harrobin said. “(We) noticed that this is not us. We’re like, ‘What’s going on here?’ We noticed that actually he won this race and now he’s going to the Florida Derby and if he wins that he’s going to the Kentucky Derby.

“On one hand, I didn’t want my SEO search feed monopolized by something that’s not us, and on the other hand I was like, 'This is really interesting.'”

After a brainstorming session with his staff, Harrobin cold-called WinStar Farm, one of the four owners of the horse, to see if there was a possibility the audiobook company and the horse could team up.

Audible.com made a $15,000 donation to the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, a charity that works with organizations specializing in life after racing for Thoroughbreds, in honor of Audible’s Florida Derby win and launched a social media marketing campaign built around the horse.

The company set up a website (audible.com/ep/go-audible) that includes fun facts about the horse, a game asking participants to pick when a name is an audiobook title or a horse and a selection of recommended audiobooks about the horse industry and creating a winning lifestyle. As part of the sponsorship, the Audible.com logo is visible on the horse’s training blanket. Jockey Javier Castellano was wearing a hat with the Audible.com logo during a recent interview.

An Audible.com Instagram post asking followers to tap the heart-shaped white spot on Audible's forehead in support of the horse has more than 1,000 likes.

In one video posted on Audible.com’s Instagram account, Pletcher said he’s not sure but thinks it would have to be a sports book. “Born to Run,” Christopher McDougall’s book about a tribe of some of the world’s greatest distance runners, caught Pletcher’s attention when browsing Audible.com’s list of top-selling sports books.

“Think that would be right in his wheelhouse,” Pletcher said.

The “Go Audible” website makes sure to point out Audible.com is not an actual owner of the horse, which was named for the football play called an audible, not the audiobook company, but that did not stop Harrobin from trying to prank his vice president of finance with an April Fool’s invoice detailing how the audiobook company would have to purchase a stake in the horse to complete the campaign.

“Then I said, ‘Well, there’s one thing: We need to actually buy the horse in order to do the sponsorship because it’s in the NHRSA guidelines you can’t put your logo on it unless you own it,’” Harrobin said. “So, we’re confident in the horse. The good news is we can sell it back, and if it wins we’ll make money on it. If he loses, well we’ll lose money.”

Harrobin went as far as to include the price of hay and jockey fees on the invoice before finally admitting to the gag.

A simple sponsorship will have to do instead.

“It’s been one of those things that’s serendipitous and fun,” Harrobin said. “We’ve been able to make a contribution to the community through the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance. The people here at Audible are so excited by it. They see it in the news, they see what we’re doing. It creates something fun for all of the employees to really just rally behind.”

The social-media campaign ramps up this week with the reveal of a special price Audible.com subscribers can win if Audible wins the Kentucky Derby.

Those ads will run at Churchill Downs throughout the week and during the Derby. There will also be an interactive game sponsored by Audible.com at the track.

Representatives from Audible.com will be on hand for the race to root on Audible in person, and the company will hold a pre-Derby party for its employees Friday at its Newark, New Jersey, headquarters.

“I just think that we’re really just having fun with it,” Harrobin said. “And the folks at WinStar and the other owners have just been spectacular to deal with. The people at Churchill Downs are so nice. This is unique. It’s going to be such a blast.”